Friday Skull Session

Happy hearing day, Buckeye fans. It seems like this day has taken longer to get here than the return of Brigadoon1. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait another six to eight weeks until the NCAA issues a ruling. Pray to the football gods that when that happens, it'll be over, because I can't stop picturing a freaky dog-like dragon when this topic comes up. Still, let's all be on our best behavior and perform some good deeds so that we can send positive karmic vibes to Indianapolis today. I'm doing my part by spending the weekend dog/cat-sitting. I will also refrain from making any jokes at the expense of Brady Hoke's obesity, even when I see headlines like this. Since I'm in a charitable mood, I'll do one better and offer him some tips on healthy living.

So, Brady Hoke2, listen up: never underestimate the importance of a nutritious breakfast. I'm a huge fan of oatmeal—steel-cut or old-fashioned, not instant. You can doctor it up with fresh fruit or a spoonful of pumpkin, which is a great source of fiber and will help you feel full longer. Want to lower your blood pressure? A dash of cinnamon should do the trick. As for exercise, I find interval training to be the best kind of cardio, because you can burn more calories and increase your endurance. For strength training, try compound exercises, as they target multiple muscles at the same time. Examples: squats with an overhead press, lunges with bicep curls, and if you're feeling ambitious, Spiderman pushups. And don't forget to drink plenty of water throughout the day. You're welcome.

Anyway, today is also the first practice in full pads. I'm guessing the players have plenty of pent-up aggression to take out on each other as they visualize the likes of George Dohrmann and, as always, Mark May. Just stay injury-free, guys.

Fickell Friday. This morning, Coach Fickell is obligated to appear at the COI hearing, and then he'll return to Columbus in time for practice, which is where his enthusiasm lies. Like most of us, he's ready to move on and play some football already. Because he wasn't guilty of any violations, Fickell doesn't expect to say much, except about how the program is improving in the compliance area. So, he'll probably spend most of his time in Indy texting back and forth with Mike Vrabel.

Just the facts, ma'am. Despite the media onslaught, Doug Lesmerises writes that the Committee on Infractions won't focus on anything but the evidence and the testimony of Tressel, Smith, Gee, et al. Even though the NCAA has been under heavy scrutiny, it would not be following precedent for them to make an example out of Ohio State.

Potentially complicating things, SI's secret source "Ellis" will talk to the NCAA. If he has photos that show anyone was lying about being in the tattoo parlor, that would be less than ideal. I don't know if he could prove other players sold memorabilia or not, but let's hope it's nothing because, well, Falkor.

Falkor, you are one creepy-looking luckdragon

Turn and face the strain, ch-ch-changes. As you read yesterday, the NCAA Board of Directors approved raising the Academic Progress Rate from 925 to 930, with more than the current scholarship loss for those programs who perform below that level. Postseason bans will now be on the table, which would not be a problem for the OSU football team whose APR score of 985 was highest among last season's Top 25 teams. It would serve Fickell, or whoever might succeed him as head coach, well to follow Tressel's lead in this matter.

On the other hand, the basketball team's APR fell short of the 930 cutoff by one point, and we all would have missed getting our hearts stomped on by the loss to Kentucky. Luckily, there has been steady progress with their score. Two years without a one-and-done player, and the addition of super-genius Aaron Craft3 to the team, have certainly helped.

agreed to consider including family members among the definition of third-party influences, a definition that also includes agents.

/Cam Newton-ed

decided not to permit conference or school television networks to broadcast any high school programming

/Longhorn Network-ed

Ready to hear about how quickly Aaron Craft can solve a Rubik's Cube? The 2011-12 basketball schedule is starting to take shape. Earlier this week, the times for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge came out, with OSU-Duke playing November 29th at 9:30. The game at Kansas will take place on December 10 at 3:15. Both will air on ESPN.

Speaking of the WWL, they announced their GameDay schedule, which includes the OSU-Michigan game in Ann Arbor on February 18. If you hate anything associated with ESPN or GameDay, then you might be dropping a few MF-ers right now. If you only hate their college football GameDay, and can tolerate the hoops version thanks to Bob Knight and Jay Bilas, then you probably shrugged. Personally, I can't wait to see all the clever tattoo-related signs the U-M students will make.

Ohio State, skilled at all kinds of football. Preseason soccer rankings were released this week, and both the men's and women's teams placed in the top 25. The men checked in at #15 and join fellow Big Ten teams Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, and Penn State in the poll. They return eight starters, most notably Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, David Tiemstra. The women, who return seven starters, are ranked #8, the highest among B1G teams.

From what I understand, Ellis simply has more pictures and / or has decided to talk to the NCAA. If this is the case, then it would not effect the university. Same song, different verse. The worst that could happen would be more suspensions, which I can live with. Anything but a FTM or LOIC and I'll be dancing in my cubicle.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but I get the feeling that this could cripple the 2011 Buckeyes in much the same way the 2010 Tar Heels were destroyed. The preservation of the program is A #1; hence, no FTM or LOIC is huge. But, based on the SI article, we're talking about 8 or 9 high impact players. Fick wouldn't even get an honest audition.

True... However, pictures don't prove anything except that the players were there. The players lawyered up and somehow were able to account for 48 of 50 items that the players were accused of pawning. Now if the players were interviewed by the NCAA, said that they had never visited the Rife's tat parlor, and were then proven to have been there with pictures, they are probably sitting this season out.

Of these, CJ, Storm, Sabino, Simon and Williams would be devastating, however I'm pretty certain that Simon and Klein are in the clear... we have enough depth and skill at the other positions to make this hurt much less than it appears on paper. I'd shit if we lost Simon or Williams though. Hopefully someone shuts this idiot up.

Wasn't it Storm Klein's father who stated that he could account for all of his son's memorabila, tattoos (or lack thereof), etc. but never confirmed or denied his son going to Fine Line?

I highly doubt the players would lie about going there. The question is...would his testimony/evidence prove that players lied about receiving tattoos, cash for autographs and/or memorabilia? IMHO, this would be difficult since most of the stuff has been accounted for and Eliis' questionable credibility

I really think this is SI/Dohrmann trying to save face and prolong the story. I hope I am right.

The other thing is, Ellis would have to prove that the pic was taken at Fine Line. If it's a pic of some people on a couch holding a PS3 controller, how does that prove they were at Fine Line trading stuff for tats? If it's a pic of them in front of the Fine Line sign, then maybe that's an issue if they said they weren't there.

BFD. It's not against NCAA rules to be at a tatoo parlor. I think only one player denied being there. I can't imagine what a still photo could capture that could cause trouble, short of someone holding up a sign saying "I'm trading this signature for a free tat!".

Maybe the NCAA should ask Ellis how much Dohrmann/SI paid him to come forward and talk. Wasn't Ellis concerned for his safety due to Rife and now he is talking? Sounds like someone is trying to save his purlitzer prize winning reputation. Next thing we'll hear about is raffle rigging.

I wish I had the day off work to go down to the NCAA offices (which are VERY nice, makes you wonder where they get all that $$) and beg/plead anyone who will listen to be easy on us. Even the local morning news was talking about the OSU hearing. At this point I've decided to stop trying to make predictions as to what the outcome will be since the NCAA is almost always inconsistent with their punishments, and just hope for the best. And I guess if that doesn't work, I'll just burn the place down*.

I don't doubt that some of the other players were at the tatoo parlor, from the article, and yes I believe there was some truth in the article, it was common for players to be at the shop playing video games and stuff like that. So, there may very well be pictures of the guys there in the shop.

It's great that basically all the memorabilia is accounted for. The question is did Simon and others Lie? I have a feeling the answer is probably not, but it is something to be concerned about. I really don't think anything new will come to light out of today's meeting, unless the players lied and there's evidence to prove it, or some of Ellis' pictures have the guys trading trophies for dime bags lol.

Tressel isn't going to drop any bombshells. He's the fall guy and he'll willingly accept that responsibility. Plus if he lied to get the team in trouble in the first place, he's not going to all of the sudden tell the truth and get them in even more trouble.

Sarah, does not knowing what a double underhook throw is make me less of a man? Did you just get back from Lineman Camp with Gary from Teen Mom or something? Uh oh, I don't know what a double underhook throw is AND I just conceded that I watch Teen Mom. Minus a dozen man points.

Odd day for Fickell & I don't envy it. Def happy to know pads are today. Shy of any injuries, I hope this team gets after it hard.

I still can't muster up any strong fear in regards to Ellis. Even if one or more of these kids were dishonest about being there, we still know 48/50 pieces are accounted for. We know from the summary report that the NCAA basically wasn't going to touch it. Unless Ellis has some irrefutable evidence of actual violations (sold pieces, video, etc) don't think I can see them reversing that.

I'm going to have The Neverending Story in my head for the whole day now. Been years.

When you combine that with the money OSU has spent on the investigation, that's over $1.1 million out of the AD's/university's bank accounts. A small chunk of change for OSU, but not an insignificant amount of money.

“I appreciated the opportunity to appear today before the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions. The committee treated us fairly and gave us ample time to share our perspective. Throughout, we have been determined to do what is right in responding to the information we discovered. As we move forward, I am committed to ensuring that The Ohio State University is a model for other colleges and universities. Our institution expects nothing less.”

Statement from Director of Athletics Gene Smith:

“The university was pleased to present to the Committee on Infractions our perspectives on the two violations that were covered in our self-report on March 8, 2011. As expected, the committee had numerous relevant questions about the issues in the case, which I believe the institution answered thoroughly and thoughtfully. We also had the opportunity to summarize information detailed in the university’s response and the institution’s reasons for its self-imposed corrective and punitive actions. Consistent with vacating the 2011 Sugar Bowl, and in addition to our previously announced corrective and punitive actions, we also shared with the committee our decision to forfeit our share of the Big Ten’s payment for having played in that game ($338,811). “Following this hearing, we will be working with the NCAA staff to move forward to wrap up our inquiry into any remaining issues. We are aware of a letter that the NCAA enforcement staff sent to the Committee on Infractions nearly a month ago detailing the status of this case. The NCAA staff concluded that the evidence at this time does not warrant additional allegations and that our joint review of any remaining items did not necessitate a delay to today’s hearing. We now look forward to working together so that we can conclude this follow-up work as quickly as possible. “In closing, we appreciate the efforts of the committee and its staff in the work it has completed to date and look forward to the committee’s report in eight to 12 weeks.”

I knew the Brigadoon reference without looking at the footnote, and I can solve a Rubik's Cube in about 2.5 minutes. However, I've never seen "The Neverending Story" and I don't think I want to rent it since I've lived it as an OSU fan these last few months.